Like another poster said, you have hurricanes here but at least you don't need to worry about pipes freezing, wildfires, tornado's, quakes, etc. 

Trim over the wrought iron porch support with wood.

Regardless, Cali is now the golden child of property insurance (excluding quake) so expect underwriting flexibility and falling pricing.

Washington) We are looking for contractors who can do light renovation and we are also looking for specialized contractors: Wrought Iron handrails, AC installers, Concrete, Landscaping and Landscaping Maintenance.

Our triplex is a single story, slab on grade building, so it is likely to be fine in a moderate quake.

It survived the Northridge quake, but has some damage still (grandparents needed the FEMA money to survive, and couldn't do the repairs, apparently).  

You could actually screen the balcony off, with a wrought-iron screen or something.I would be less worried about that than about the fact that you would be moving people in knowing that a very disruptive construction project is on their horizon.  

If they take on aspects of ownership, for example if the buyer is responsible for insurance, maintenance or taxes, it can be a sale. if it walks like a duck and quaks like a duck, it's a duck!

I know many of you are quaking in your boots now. 

As far as I'm concerned, Cali can break off in an earth quake and float out in the Pacific, to collerate Cali to the rest of the nation is just silly.